Roswell Park Named Optum Center of Excellence for Adult and Pediatric Stem Cell Transplants

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Health services leader Optum has once again recognized Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center as a Center of Excellence for its adult and pediatric stem cell transplant programs. 

To become certified, a center must undergo a rigorous evaluation process conducted by Optum’s Clinical Sciences Institute to ensure it meets specific criteria. The evaluation assesses factors including clinical expertise, patient outcomes and quality of care. 

“Modern cell therapy is an opportunity for renewal and often a path toward cure for aggressive blood cancers,” says Brian Betts, MD. “In addition to exceptional transplant outcomes, Roswell Park also takes safety, quality, and patient convenience to heart. This includes practice standards that permit outpatient cell therapy and limited hospital stays, so patients can focus on recovery. This designation highlights Roswell Park’s success in providing world-class care as well as the highest tier of innovative therapies right here in Buffalo.”

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center was one of the first centers in the world to routinely offer patients stem cell or bone marrow transplantation. Roswell Park’s transplant and cell therapy program recently reported a significant achievement: a one-year survival rate of 92.6% among all adults who underwent allogenic hematopoietic cell transplantation. 

Optum also recognized the collaborative Roswell Park Golisano Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Program as a center of excellence in stem cell transplant. This service brings a potentially curative cancer treatment to eligible patients from infancy up to age 25. The program has consistently recorded superior clinical outcomes for pediatric patients undergoing transplant. Most often incorporated into the care of children with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, transplant can also be used to treat rarer cancers like neuroblastoma, brain tumors and lymphoma. 

“Roswell Park’s designation as an Optum Center of Excellence reflects the exceptional pediatric stem cell transplant care made possible through our partnership with Golisano Children’s Hospital,” says Kara Kelly, MD, the Waldemar J. Kaminski Endowed Chair of Pediatrics at Roswell Park and Chief of the Roswell Park Golisano Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Program. “Together, we ensure that children and families in Western New York can receive world-class care close to home without compromising access to the highest standards of excellence.”

Earlier this year Optum named Roswell Park a Center of Excellence for its adult and pediatric cancer treatment. It is one of only 38 institutions in the country to receive this designation. 

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From the world’s first chemotherapy research to the PSA prostate cancer biomarker, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center generates innovations that shape how cancer is detected, treated and prevented worldwide. The Roswell Park team of 4,000+ makes compassionate, patient-centered cancer care and services accessible across New York State and beyond. Rated “Exceptional” by the National Cancer Institute, Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country and remains the only one in Upstate New York. To learn more about Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Roswell Park Care Network, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email ASKRoswell@RoswellPark.org.